Social Media Use and Business Performance in SMEs: The Mediating Roles of Relational Social Commerce Capability and Competitive Advantage

Social media (SM) enables micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve brand awareness and to engage their audience, which can lead to referrals, repeat business, and increased sales. However, the existing literature offers limited insights into how the ability to leverage SM for com...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 14; no. 22; p. 15029
Main Authors Marolt, Marjeta, Zimmermann, Hans-Dieter, Pucihar, Andreja
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2022
Subjects
Business competition
Business success
Collaboration
Commerce
Competition
Competitive advantage
Customer services
Digital media
Economic aspects
Electronic commerce
Management research
Marketing
Purchasing
Small and medium sized companies
Small business
Social media
Social networks
Sustainability
Technology application
Slovenia
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Summary:Social media (SM) enables micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve brand awareness and to engage their audience, which can lead to referrals, repeat business, and increased sales. However, the existing literature offers limited insights into how the ability to leverage SM for commercial activities that are beyond transactions (relational social commerce capability) can affect performance outcomes for SMEs. Drawing on the existing literature and insights from in-depth interviews with six SME managers/owners, we developed a conceptual research model and examined it empirically by using a dataset collected from Slovenian SMEs. This study identifies relational social commerce capability and competitive advantage as important mediators when exploring the impact of SM use on business performance. More specifically, the findings reveal the mediating role of relational social commerce capability between SM use and competitive advantage, while SM use was not found to have a direct impact on competitive advantage. Furthermore, the findings illustrate business performance as a result of the competitive advantage derived from relational s-commerce capability.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su142215029